f i l m j o u r n e y . o r g

As an addendum to my last blog entry, the Criterion Collection announced today it will release Ozu’s silent A Story of Floating Weeds (1934) and his sound remake, Floating Weeds (1959), together as a 2-disc DVD in April. Coming on the heels of Ikiru, The Rules of the Game, and Diary of a [...]

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One of the best writers on film today, James Quandt, hasn’t authored any book-length studies I’m aware of–although he has edited several definitive compilations–and one of my dreams is that he’ll manage to compile his own writing into such a book someday soon. As the Senior Programmer for the CinÈmathËque Ontario, one can catch his [...]

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I’ve always been a proponent of using movies to initiate dialogue in public forums and I’m lucky enough to live in a city that does this with some regularity. A couple of nights ago, I had the pleasure of attending a benefit screening and discussion of Salt of the Earth, a 1954 blacklisted film [...]

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Being a child of the ’70s and ’80s, I came to cinephilia through video and therefore treasure opportunities to rewatch classic films projected on the big screen. Many of the benefits of film are notorious–increased resolution and detail, a greater range of mid-tones, projected rather than emitted light; other differences are more subtle–a soothing [...]

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Italian director Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers, a classic of political filmmaking from 1965, has gotten its theatrical rerelease by Rialto Pictures and reignited controversy as commentators have attempted to either establish or dispel its relation to current events. While it’s true that the film’s specific context is Algeria’s fight for independence [...]

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My day job consists of being a graphic artist, so I thought I’d post the above drawing I did several years ago in light of the newly-announced Orson Welles retrospective happening simultaneously in late-February at the Film Forum in New York City and the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles.
While it will be a treat [...]

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ïindieWIRE has posted their top twenty undistributed films of 2003, starting (alphabetically) with one of my favorites, Ross McElwee’s Bright Leaves.
ïDVD Beaver has posted a shot comparison of the new UK DVD of F.W. Murnau’s 1924 masterpiece, The Last Laugh, an 80th anniversary special edition based on the 2003 restoration by Murnau Stiftung/Transit Films. [...]

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I’m pleased to announce a site I co-admin, Masters of Cinema, has been nominated by Cinemarati for Best Film-Related Web Site of 2003. I also whole-heartedly endorse our competition:

NOMINEES
ï Bright Lights Film Journal
ï DVD Beaver
ïThe Fog of War
ï GreenCine Daily
ïMasters of Cinema
ïMidnight Eye
ï Senses of Cinema
ïThe Tulse Luper Suitcases Web Archive

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As I mentioned in my earlier blog, I’m going to be out-of-town for a few days for the Palm Springs International Film Festival. I hope to find an Internet cafÈ and make some screening updates to the blog, but we’ll see.
In the meantime, a site reader who goes by the name Samurai Jack has [...]

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Happy New Year, everyone!
Back from the holidays, I thought I’d list my requisite end of the year top ten lists, although I hasten to add that there are plenty of films I’ve yet to see. (For example, I’m still looking forward to seeing Tsai Ling-miang’s Goodbye Dragon Inn and Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Distant, both of [...]

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